I’m not sure what it is, but giving directions in south Louisiana isn’t about listing street names. It’s about giving landmarks. However, the landmarks don’t always seem very significant. It’s not like saying, “Go past the Post Office and you’ll find the bank on your right.”

For example, in high school I was talking to one of the guys in the school’s administration. He was telling me about how he went fishing with this old Cajun man. He tells me that he was on the bayou with this old man and he asked him where they were going to fish.

“Mais, we gonna go past where da alligatah sun himsef.”

And that was the landmark. Where the alligator suns himself. That was where the fish were, apparently.

My dad used to work at this place in Arnaudville that made prefabricated metal buildings. It’s located on Ti Adam Guidry Rd., but people would know what you’re talking about if you say “Go to that street with the oak tree in the middle of it and you’ll see it.” (the factory).